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violet · neutral

#bf8ccc

a light, soft violet · neutral · closest name: Plum

Token name suggestion: Morning Iris

RGB
191, 140, 204
HSL
288°, 39%, 68%
CMYK
6, 31, 0, 20
Luminance
0.3419

#bf8ccc is a light soft violet, 288° on the wheel and 57/100 on the cool side. Put black text on it (7.84:1). As text it scores 2.68:1 on white — use #A257B5 instead. Nearest name is Plum, nearest Tailwind family is fuchsia.

hsl(288 39% 68%)rgb(191 140 204)Base step 400AAA inkNeutral

At a glance

Every number on this page in one read: what #bf8ccc is made of, how bright it looks, and which way it leans.

Hex
#bf8ccc
Hue
288°
violet
Saturation
39%
soft
Lightness
68%
light
Brightness
80%
HSV value
Perceived
65%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.3419
WCAG relative
Temperature
Neutral
57/100 cool
Color family
Violet
Tone
Soft
Best ink
Black
7.84:1
Closest name
Plum
ΔE2000 6.9
Chroma
39.7
LCH, 0–130ish
OKLCH L
0.711
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
fuchsia
500 · ΔE 15.4
Web-safe
#CC99CC
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue288° of 360°
Saturation39%
Lightness68%
Saturation × lightness field

Left edge is grey, right edge is full chroma; top is white, bottom is black. The dot is #bf8ccc.

Temperature
Warm ← → Cool57% cool

Reads neutral. Warm and cool siblings keep the same lightness, so you can swap one in without redoing your contrast maths.

Luminance by channel
Red32%
Green55%
Blue13%

Green carries most of what the eye calls brightness — that is why WCAG weights it 0.7152.

Every format

HEX#bf8ccc
HEX (8-digit)#bf8cccff
RGBrgb(191, 140, 204)
RGBArgba(191, 140, 204, 1)
HSLhsl(288, 39%, 68%)
HSV / HSBhsv(288, 31%, 80%)
HWBhwb(288 55% 20%)
CMYKcmyk(6%, 31%, 0%, 20%)
LABlab(65.1 30.5 -25.5)
LCHlch(65.1 39.7 320.1)
OKLCHoklch(0.711 0.107 319.3)
XYZ (D65)xyz(41.76, 34.19, 61.52)
Decimal12553420
Display P3color(display-p3 0.749 0.549 0.800)
Web-safe#CC99CC

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #bf8ccc;
background-color: #bf8ccc;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #bf8ccc;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#bf8ccc] bg-[#bf8ccc]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #bf8ccc;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.749, green: 0.549, blue: 0.800)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 0.749, green: 0.549, blue: 0.800, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#BF8CCC</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFFBF8CCC)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFFBF8CCC)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(204, 140, 191)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(191, 140, 204)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(191, 140, 204)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 191, 140, 204)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(0.7490f, 0.5490f, 0.8000f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{191,140,204}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #bf8ccc 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #bf8ccc 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#4E2758, #E7D5EC);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #bf8ccc h s calc(l - 7));

Design tokens

The same ramp in the four formats a team actually needs. Paste one and the whole palette lands with it.

css custom propertiesclick to select
:root {
  --brand-50: #F9F5FA;
  --brand-100: #F2EBF4;
  --brand-200: #E5D3E9;
  --brand-300: #D4B1DD;
  --brand-400: #bf8ccc;
  --brand-500: #A863BA;
  --brand-600: #964BAA;
  --brand-700: #7D3F8D;
  --brand-800: #643271;
  --brand-900: #4A2753;
  --brand-950: #2E1934;
  --brand: #bf8ccc;
  --brand-ink: #000000;
  --brand-surface: #F9F4FA;
  --brand-border: #E0C6E6;
  --brand-hover: #B173C1;
  --brand-pressed: #A45BB6;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --brand-surface: #211424;
    --brand-ink: #E7D5EC;
  }
}
tailwind.config.jsclick to select
theme: {
  extend: {
    colors: {
      brand: {
        50: '#F9F5FA',
        100: '#F2EBF4',
        200: '#E5D3E9',
        300: '#D4B1DD',
        400: '#bf8ccc',
        500: '#A863BA',
        600: '#964BAA',
        700: '#7D3F8D',
        800: '#643271',
        900: '#4A2753',
        950: '#2E1934',
        DEFAULT: '#bf8ccc',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #F9F5FA,
  '100': #F2EBF4,
  '200': #E5D3E9,
  '300': #D4B1DD,
  '400': #bf8ccc,
  '500': #A863BA,
  '600': #964BAA,
  '700': #7D3F8D,
  '800': #643271,
  '900': #4A2753,
  '950': #2E1934,
);
$brand-base: #bf8ccc;
$brand-ink: #000000;

@function brand($step) { @return map-get($brand, $step); }
w3c design tokens (json)click to select
{
  "color": {
    "brand": {
      "50": { "$value": "#F9F5FA", "$type": "color" },
      "100": { "$value": "#F2EBF4", "$type": "color" },
      "200": { "$value": "#E5D3E9", "$type": "color" },
      "300": { "$value": "#D4B1DD", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#bf8ccc", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#A863BA", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#964BAA", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#7D3F8D", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#643271", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#4A2753", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$value": "#2E1934", "$type": "color" }
    },
    "brandInk": { "$value": "#000000", "$type": "color" }
  }
}

Best text color

Only one of black and white can be right. This is the one, with the number that proves it.

Readable at a glance#000000 on #bf8ccc · 7.84:1
Use #000000AAA at every size.
Aa
12px
Aa
16px
Aa
24px
Aa
White text · 2.68:1
AA fail · AA large fail · AAA fail
Aa
Black text · 7.84:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA pass
Reading the other direction: #bf8ccc as text scores 2.68:1 on white and 7.84:1 on black.
Best tinted ink on it, if plain black or white feels flat: #4E2758 at 4.47:1.

Make it accessible

A contrast checker tells you that you failed. This tells you what to ship instead — same hue, same saturation, lightness moved only as far as WCAG demands.

The quick fox
#A257B5 · 4.60:1
AA on white−15% L
#A257B5
The quick fox
#7C3E8C · 7.18:1
AAA on white−28% L
#7C3E8C
The quick fox
#bf8ccc · 7.84:1
AA on blackalready passes
#bf8ccc
The quick fox
#bf8ccc · 7.84:1
AAA on blackalready passes
#bf8ccc

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #B77EC6 is enough for headings on white. Non-text elements such as icons, chart strokes and focus rings also sit at 3:1 under WCAG 2.2 (1.4.11).

Accessibility — WCAG contrast

Aa
#bf8ccc on white: 2.68:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#bf8ccc on black: 7.84:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

Contrast is symmetric, so each row covers both directions: #bf8ccc as text on that neutral, and that neutral as text on #bf8ccc.

NeutralRatioBoth directions
White2.68:1AaAa
Slate 502.56:1AaAa
Slate 1002.45:1AaAa
Slate 2002.17:1AaAa
Slate 3001.80:1AaAa
Slate 4001.04:1AaAa
Slate 5001.78:1AaAa
Slate 6002.83:1AaAa
Slate 7003.86:1AaAa
Slate 8005.46:1AaAa
Slate 9006.66:1AaAa
Black7.84:1AaAa
Colour vision deficiency
true color
protanopia · #849BCF
deuteranopia · #90A0CA
tritanopia · #C093A3

Roughly one man in twelve has some form of colour vision deficiency. If any of the three panels above is hard to tell apart from a neighbouring colour in your palette, add a shape, an icon or a label so the meaning does not rest on hue alone.

Color scale — 50 to 950

A Tailwind-shaped ramp built around this exact hex. #bf8ccc is pinned to step 400; the rest hold its hue and let saturation ease off at the extremes so the pale end never turns neon.

#F9F5FA
#F2EBF4
#E5D3E9
#D4B1DD
#bf8ccc
#A863BA
#964BAA
#7D3F8D
#643271
#4A2753
#2E1934
Base = 400Lightest = 50 · #F9F5FADarkest = 950 · #2E1934Text step on white = 600
Perceptual ramp — OKLCH

The same eleven steps expressed in OKLCH, where equal lightness numbers actually look equally spaced. HSL ramps go muddy in the yellows and washed out in the blues; this one does not. Modern browsers render it natively — the hex ramp above is the fallback.

50100200300400500600700800900950
oklch tokensclick to select
:root {
  --brand-50: oklch(0.97 0.027 319.3);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.043 319.3);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.064 319.3);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.083 319.3);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.098 319.3);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.107 319.3);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.107 319.3);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.100 319.3);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.090 319.3);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.075 319.3);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.059 319.3);
}

Colors that work with #bf8ccc

Not a palette — a role sheet. Each swatch answers one question you will hit while building the component.

Text on it#000000
Black wins here
Surface#F9F4FA
Tinted page background
Border#E0C6E6
Hairlines and dividers
Muted text#8B4B9B
Captions on the surface
Accent#62913B
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#4E2758
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#F5EDF7
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#211424
Dark-mode background
Hover#B173C1
One step down in lightness
Pressed#A45BB6
Two steps down
Disabled#E8DEEA
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#CB93DA
Offset from the fill so it reads
Light mode
Everything in its place

Surface, border, heading and body all derive from this one hue, so the screen stays coherent without a second palette.

Primary actionSecondaryBadge
Dark mode
Same hue, inverted

Lightness flips, hue holds. The accent stays the anchor in both themes.

Primary actionSecondaryAccent

In real components

The same eight roles, wired into the interface patterns you will actually build with them. Every state below is a computed value, not a mock-up.

Buttons and states
Save changesHoverPressedDisabled
OutlineSubtleLinkFocused
Form field
you@company.com

Focus ring uses the light variant so the field still reads as one shape.

Send me product updates
Notice
Your export is ready

The file stays available for seven days. Download it before it expires.

NewBetaDraft
Data
Storage used68%
Acme LtdActive
NorthwindTrial
GlobexActive

How to use #bf8ccc

Derived from its contrast, chroma and lightness — not from taste.

Works well for
  • Text and icons on dark surfaces
  • Charts, tags and secondary surfaces
  • Card and section backgrounds
  • Brand accents, badges and data highlights
Use with care
  • Text of any size on white — fails WCAG AA
  • White text placed on it
  • Pairing with a same-lightness hue — edges vibrate
Minimum size as text on white
Not as text
Safe as a fill behind white type
No — use #4E2758
Safe as a 1px border on white
No — use #B77EC6

Meaning and mood

What a colour in this family tends to signal, and how this particular chroma and lightness change the reading.

creativepremiummodernimaginative

Violet sits between the warmth of red and the calm of blue, so it reads as inventive without reading as risky. Current shorthand for software craft.

The muted chroma softens the association — it reads considered rather than loud, which suits long-form and data-heavy screens. The lightness keeps it airy and approachable.

Worth knowing

Deep violets swallow detail on screens with poor gamma; check it on a cheap laptop panel.

Reads as
  • FormalityMedium
  • EnergyMedium
  • Weight33/100
  • TemperatureNeutral
  • ApproachabilityBalanced

Colour associations are cultural and vary by market. Treat these as a starting point for a conversation with your audience, not a finding about them.

Similar colors

One move away from this hex in each direction. Every swatch is its own page.

Color relationships

The wheel positions with their names attached, so you can grab the one you actually need.

Complementary#99CC8C
Analogous left#9F8CCC
Analogous right#CC8CB9
Split-complement 1#B9CC8C
Split-complement 2#8CCC9F
Triadic 1#CCBF8C
Triadic 2#8CCCBF
Tetradic#CC9F8C
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°288°

#bf8ccc sits at 288°. Every dot is a harmony position and links to its own page in the table alongside.

RGB percentages

Red74.9%
Green54.9%
Blue80.0%
R · 0–255
191
0xbf
G · 0–255
140
0x8c
B · 0–255
204
0xcc

CMYK percentages

Cyan6.4%
Magenta31.4%
Yellow0.0%
Key (black)20.0%

Total ink coverage is 58%. Most commercial presses cap around 300% — above that, sheets stop drying properly.

Color previews

#bf8ccc text on a black background

contrast 7.84:1

Card sample

#bf8ccc text on a white background

contrast 2.68:1

Card sample

#bf8ccc on grey

2.45:1

#bf8ccc on its own surface

2.47:1

#bf8ccc on its dark surface

6.59:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

color: #bf8ccc;
Background color
Panel with #bf8ccc background
background-color: #bf8ccc;
Text shadow — hex

Glowing headline

text-shadow: 2px 2px 8px #bf8ccc;
Text shadow — RGB

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(191, 140, 204, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(191, 140, 204, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #bf8ccc;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #bf8ccc, #CC8CAE);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

background: linear-gradient(90deg, #bf8ccc, #CC8C9E);
-webkit-background-clip: text;
color: transparent;
Focus ring
Focused control
outline: 2px solid #bf8ccc;
outline-offset: 3px;
Underline & caret

Marked up text

text-decoration-color: #bf8ccc;
caret-color: #bf8ccc;
Left rule
Pull quote or callout
border-left: 4px solid #bf8ccc;
Ring + tint
Selected chip
background: #F5EDF7;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #bf8ccc;
Conic badge
68%
background: conic-gradient(#bf8ccc 68%, #e2e8f0 0);

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #bf8ccc over white; the bottom row is the same alpha over a checkerboard, so you can see what survives on a photo or a video.

Bottom row of hexes is the flattened result over white — use those when a design tool refuses transparency, or when you need a solid fallback.

alpha in every syntaxclick to select
rgba(191, 140, 204, 0.5)
rgb(191 140 204 / 50%)
#bf8ccc80
hsl(288 39% 68% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #bf8ccc 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#bf8ccc1a#F9F4FA
20%#bf8ccc33#F2E8F5
40%#bf8ccc66#E5D1EB
60%#bf8ccc99#D9BAE0
80%#bf8ccccc#CCA3D6

Gradients from #bf8ccc

Six recipes, each built from this hex and shown with the exact CSS that produced it.

Elevation
Same hue, three lightnesses — safe anywhere
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #D7B7DF, #bf8ccc 45%, #4E2758);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #bf8ccc, #C37799);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #bf8ccc, #99CC8C);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #E2CCE8 0%, #bf8ccc 45%, #4E2758 100%);
Soft wash
Section backgrounds that stay readable
background: linear-gradient(180deg, #F9F4FA, #ffffff);
Mesh
Ambient background, no image weight
background: radial-gradient(60% 60% at 15% 20%, #B9AFDC 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(55% 55% at 85% 15%, #D6A1C2 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #4E2758 0%, transparent 65%), #bf8ccc;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #bf8ccc

Shades — darker

Tints — lighter

Tones — desaturated

Color harmonies

Nearest named colors

Ranked with CIEDE2000 across all 139 CSS keywords. Under ΔE 2 the eye stops telling them apart; over ΔE 10 they are plainly different colors.

#bf8ccc in the real world

Where a color in this family tends to land, and the interface roles it is usually asked to play.

Industries
Creative toolsFintechBeautyLuxury
Common UI roles
SurfacesBadgesHighlightsEmpty states
Print note

Converts to four-color process without much drama. Proof it anyway.

On screens

Holds up across typical panel gamma. Still worth checking on an uncalibrated laptop, where mid-tones shift most.

In dark mode

Usable as-is on a dark surface at 7.84:1.

Explore nearby colors

Small, deliberate steps away from this hex — useful when you are hunting for the version of a colour that finally feels right.

#bf8ccc, answered

What color is #bf8ccc?

#bf8ccc is a light soft violet, closest to Plum (ΔE2000 6.9). It sits at 288° on the hue wheel with 39% saturation and 68% lightness, which reads as neutral.

What is the RGB value of #bf8ccc?

rgb(191, 140, 204) — 191 red, 140 green and 204 blue out of 255, or 74.9% / 54.9% / 80% by channel.

What is #bf8ccc in HSL and HSV?

hsl(288, 39%, 68%) and hsv(288, 31%, 80%). HSL is what CSS takes; HSV is what your design tool's picker shows, which is why the saturation numbers rarely match.

Is #bf8ccc a light or a dark color?

It is a mid-tone. Relative luminance is 0.3419 and perceived brightness is 65%, so black text on it reaches 7.84:1.

Should I use black or white text on #bf8ccc?

Black. It scores 7.84:1 against #bf8ccc, versus 2.68:1 for white — AAA at any size.

Is #bf8ccc accessible on a white background?

#bf8ccc on white scores 2.68:1, which fails WCAG AA at every size. Darken it to #A257B5 to reach 4.5:1, or #7C3E8C for 7:1.

What is the complementary color of #bf8ccc?

#99CC8C sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #B9CC8C and #8CCC9F, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #bf8ccc?

For interface work: #F9F4FA as the surface, #E0C6E6 for borders, #8B4B9B for secondary text, #62913B as an accent and #4E2758 for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #9F8CCC and #CC8CB9 stays calm, while #99CC8C is the loudest partner.

What is #bf8ccc in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(6%, 31%, 0%, 20%). This is a screen-to-ink approximation — ask your printer for a proof before committing to a run.

Is #bf8ccc warm or cool?

Neutral — it scores 57 on a scale where 0 is the warmest orange and 100 the coolest azure. Nudged warmer it becomes #CC8CC2; nudged cooler, #A78ACE.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #bf8ccc?

The fuchsia family — its 500 step is #d946ef, ΔE2000 15.4 away. That is a visible difference, so define #bf8ccc as a custom token rather than reaching for the built-in.

How do I use #bf8ccc in Tailwind CSS?

Inline it as an arbitrary value with bg-[#bf8ccc] or text-[#bf8ccc], or register the whole ramp under theme.extend.colors.brand so you get bg-brand-500 and friends. The generated 50–950 scale on this page is ready to paste into your config.

What is #bf8ccc with 50% opacity?

rgba(191, 140, 204, 0.5), or #bf8ccc80 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #DFC6E6; over black, #604666.

Is #bf8ccc a web-safe color?

No. The nearest web-safe colour is #CC99CC, ΔE2000 4.8 away. The palette only matters for legacy displays and some email clients now.

What does the color #bf8ccc mean?

As a violet, it reads creative, premium, modern. Violet sits between the warmth of red and the calm of blue, so it reads as inventive without reading as risky. Current shorthand for software craft. At this moderate chroma the association is present but not shouted.

What gradient works with #bf8ccc?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #D7B7DF, #bf8ccc 45%, #4E2758). For more colour, a short hue run to #C37799 keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #bf8ccc in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

Every value on this page is computed from #bf8ccc at request time — conversions, contrast ratios and ΔE distances are calculated, never looked up.